Fire
by MaidenMoonshine
Summary: Jenny Shepard is one fiery woman. She has to be to deal with her two closest relationships - former lover Leroy Jethro Gibbs and "daughter" Ziva David. Never is her fiery personality more evident than when she becomes director of NCIS. Collection of one-shots with themes of "fire".
1. Fire

**Jenny Shepard - such an interesting and fiery character! I find her entrance to NCIS to be full of drama and sparks! This "story" will be a collection of one-shots dealing with Jenny's appointment as director, all with tie-ins to fire. Each chapter will be short, likely around 300 words. I am just working on developing and sharing my views on the relationships between Jenny, Gibbs, and Ziva in particular. This will give background to my upcoming Ziva-joins-the-family story. I hope that you will all enjoy!**

**...**

There were only two people that Jenny Shepard would have said really knew her. They were the only two that she had ever _let_ know her.

First was Leroy Jethro Gibbs, her former boss, partner and lover. He had known her better than she knew herself. Although their relationship had long been cut off by her own choice, she still imagined that he would be able to read her - that thought was frightening.

Second was Ziva David, a Mossad officer who had worked with Jenny on a mission in Europe and somehow awoken the maternal part of Jenny's being. The girl, seventeen years old when she first entered Jenny's life, had taught Jenny countless lessons on unconventional "parenting". The emotionally-inept young Israeli woman had taken the vacant place of "daughter" in the redhead's heart. Honestly, the fear that she had for Ziva's safety - physically, emotionally, morally, and spiritually - was what had driven her to move ahead on the career ladder at this time. The boundless love she had for the girl was both fulfilling and frightening. For Ziva's sake, she would once again take on Leroy Jethro Gibbs.

The two relationships were completely different, but both Gibbs and Ziva would have described Jenny with the same word - fiery.

Never was that adjective more accurate than when she first took over as director of NCIS.

...

**Please review!**


	2. Torch

**Thanks to all who reviewed and asked for more of this story! Thanks to Troubled-Angel-26, Loads of Randomness (love the name!), isles15, DS2010, KnightLawn, BohoAngel, and fiftyshadeswritergal. **

**This chapter isa one-shot on the "passing of the torch". Enjoy!**

**...**

"Congratulations, Director."

Jenny Shepard turned to Tom Morrow. "Thank you, Tom." She looked back down at the signed papers in front of her. There was her name, there was her signature.

She was the new director of NCIS. Her career was officially on fire.

"I'm passing you the torch - carry it high," Tom said seriously.

"I will carry it with pride."

Tom nodded with satisfaction. "I know that you will." His phone rang and he picked it up. "Excuse me. I need to answer this."

"Certainly," Jenny replied. He left the room and she was alone to savor her victory - she had made it to the top of the agency! The petite redhead with the charming smile had scrabbled her way to the top.

She walked over to a decorative mirror on the wall and looked at herself - there were hints of the young agent who first started at this building all those years ago. Much of her had been hidden by the mature woman who now stood in the room, but there, in the depths of her eyes, the same fire still burned.

She _would_ make her country proud.

Ahead lay some of the most challenging days of her professional life, but she would take each challenge with grace and tenacity.

She would prove that she could do this job.

Why would she need to prove herself?

She was the first female director. She needed to prove to the politicians, SecNav, agents, Marines, Navy, agents, Gibbs ...

Herself. Put frankly, she needed to prove it to herself - she could and would do this job well.

Now it was her torch.

...

**Please review!**

**I hope that you all enjoyed! Next up: Jenny sees Gibbs after years apart. Will there be sparks?**


	3. Sparks

**Hi again! I just remembered that I had promised to post the next chapter today. I had forgotten! **

**Thanks to everyone for being so supportive of these one-shots. I didn't really expect such encouraging words for several one-shots, but I can tell you that it was appreciated! Special thanks to the reviewers -Troubled-Angel-26 and isles15. Everyone, please remember to review after you read. It is very encouraging to every fanfiction writer on this site! **

**Enjoy!**

...

As Jenny turned around in MTAC to introduce herself as the new director, she forced herself to remain calm and professional. She would establish dominance in her relationship with her former boss and lover. She would prove ...

Then she looked at his face.

The expected shock, flash of hurt, then ...

There it was - the sparks.

Those sparks had been defining her relationship with Jethro ever since she first met him. Perhaps it was her classical red-head temperament. Perhaps it was his unbearable chauvinism. Her independence, his endless rules; her dominant personality, his unyielding authority; her stunning looks, his passionate admiration - their relationship, both professionally and personally, was as full of sparks as a blacksmith's shop.

Looking at him, she could already sense the struggle.

_And how is he going to handle my little spitfire? _

She decided to put that thought off for a moment. That would be a big enough issue to deal with once it was breached. For now, she would settle with Jethro, put down her foot...

Already he was pushing her, proving that he was still the man she remembered. Fine, if he wanted to insinuate and jab, let him - she was the authority now. It was understandable that he might have issues. It took all of her self-control to keep from flushing bright red thinking back to her "farewell" to him all those years - empty years - ago.

And although she was slightly concerned that she might get burned, it was almost comforting to be next to those sparks once again.

...

**Next chapter - Spitfire. Any guesses on what that will cover? **

**Please review! Thanks! :)**


	4. Spitfire

**Not sure how this turned out, but I hope that you will enjoy! **

**Thanks to the reviewers - Loads of Randomness, isles15, fiftyshadeswritergal, and Troubled-Angel-26. Guest, these chapters are short! Read the author's note at the beginning of the story to find out why - I already explained it there. :) **

**Happy Easter to everyone!**

**...**

Jenny was expecting it, so when the door was pushed violently open and her spitfire rushed into the office with an indignant frown, she was prepared.

"What's the matter, Ziva?" she asked patiently.

"He ... he ... he is so annoying!" Ziva spluttered, pacing back and forth in front of Jenny's desk. Ziva spun around and planted her hands on Jenny's desk, leaning forward and glaring at her. "He took my weapons!"

Jenny resisted the urge to smile. Removing Ziva's weapons would have put Gibbs into her bad books immediately.

"I'm sure he had a reason," Jenny tried to console Ziva. From the fiery glare in Ziva's eyes, _no_ reason would be good enough to calm the excitable Israeli!

"There is no reason good enough!" Ziva confirmed, very close to yelling at Jenny.

That did not go over well. Jenny pointed to a chair. "Sit," she ordered with a stern look. She smiled internally as Ziva slowly seated herself; working with a little spitfire had been quite simple after working with Jethro the firecracker for months at a time all those years ago. Jenny waited until Ziva released a sigh of acceptance before starting her explanation.

"Ziva, dear, I know that you might not want to work with Agent Gibbs..."

"Want!" Ziva interrupted with a burst of spunk. "He is the one who does not want to work with me!" Her face dropped a little and the anger left as she looked up at Jenny. "Why did you put me on a team with people who do not want to work with me?" she asked with a touch of betrayal. Her voice faltered. "My brother ... Kate died because ... I can do my work with a different team, can I not?"

Jenny paused and took a deep breath before gently tilting Ziva's face to look her in the eye. "I learned from the best. So will you."

Ziva stared at her for a moment, then silently, calmly left the office. Jenny was not worried. She had seen the acceptance in Ziva's eyes, tempered with ... was it gratitude? Or perhaps she only hoped to see that emotion in the future.

But Jenny could not help but laugh as she thought of the upcoming showdowns between Agent Gibbs and Officer David. It was true, she wanted him to train Ziva to be an investigator. But there was a tiny part of her that was going to enjoy making him go through the whole fighting fire phase once again. There would be plenty of amusement to counteract the headaches this combination of forces would create.

But there was a deeper reason, one that she had kept hidden from both suspicious Gibbs and angry Ziva.

He was the only person in the world that she would entrust with her spitfire's safety.

...

**Please review! **

**I think that I will only have one more, or possibly two if needed, chapters in this story. With finishing it and "The Easter Exclusives", I'll have time to start working on my ideas for my Ziva-joins-the-family story! The main point of "Fire" is to set up the stage for it by giving "my" background on the relationships already at work. Plus, it doesn't hurt to give you readers a few extra stories, does it? ;) **

**See you soon!**


	5. Matches

**This is the final chapter to this story. This has now set the stage for future stories about Gibbs drawing Ziva into his family. **

**Thanks to all who reviewed this story. Special thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter - A, DS2010, Toubled-Angel-26, and isles15. **

**Please enjoy this final chapter of "Fire". This chapter is "Matches". **

...

After her spitfire's little rant about being on Team Gibbs, Jenny was not surprised to find Gibbs questioning her wisdom on the match. By now he had started to accept Ziva as one of his people - he had even returned her weapons, smoothing down several ruffled feathers. But here he was, standing in front of her and staring her down with that inscrutable gaze.

"Why me?" he finally asked.

"Why you what?" she responded, although she had a good idea. He had used that response enough times of her that she was relishing the chance to copy it back at him.

"Ziva."

Apparently simple words were all that she was going to get.

"Why did I put her on your team?" she clarified. Gibbs lifted an eyebrow and Jenny sighed reflectively as she leaned back. There was a story behind her choices. "I wanted something good for her."

"Yep?"

"Yep ... I mean, yes. Jethro, I first met Ziva when she was only seventeen. I didn't know that at the time, but the former operative had been killed in a car accident." She felt naseaous as she once again remembered her horror at hearing Ziva explain why a teenager was out there on a life-threatening mission - an hour after nearly being killed. "Director David needed a replacement, Ziva had finished school and was not yet in her military service, he chose her and sent her off with instructions not to mention her age. I only found out after she let it slip while I was tying bandages around her scrapes."

_Those scrapes hurt nothing compared to the discipline I gave her for hiding such important information from me! _

Jenny looked up at Jethro. To anyone who did not know him as well as she did, they would have thought that he had remained impassive at that story. But Jenny knew him better than that. The tiniest tightening around his eyes, the sharp blue of his eyes, the slight stiffness in his stance - he was furious that Ziva's life had been risked when she would have still been considered a child.

Jenny watched his face carefully, reading the tiny cues. Finally she smiled despite the grimness, satisfied.

He was just as angry as she was.

"So you see, Jethro, I needed to get her somewhere safe."

"NCIS?"

Jenny paused. "With me. With ... you."

They locked gazes for a few moments. No sparks, no power struggle - just telling one another stories and making promises of safety for a certain young officer.

"I think she's a good match for the team," Gibbs said. He turned to the door, then turned back before exiting. "And I think she's a good match for you."

"For me?"

_He caught me into this again!_

"I ... always knew you'd make a good mother."

He was gone before she could respond. Not that she was sure if she would have wanted to respond anyway.

_Mother? _

...

They both knew that Ziva was a good match. They did not see all the other matches just yet - the staring matches, shouting matches, and matches that lit emotional explosions and then lit even bigger fires of love. All they knew was that she was a match - a perfect match - for the odd family that existed at NCIS.

And that match was the only one that mattered.

_The End_

...

Please review and let me know about any future stories that you would like to see!

Thank you for the honour of reading my story!


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